Social media marketing, search engine marketing and now affiliate marketing - who is supposed to keep track of all that as a self-employed person? Well, you of course! Of course, as an (individual) entrepreneur you only have limited time capacities. And of course you can't use all marketing channels at the same time. That's exactly why you should understand all types of marketing at least once. Only then can you decide which measure really makes sense for your business.
One of these Types of marketing we would like to introduce to you in more detail today. It's about so-called affiliate marketing, where you cooperate with various sales partners to increase your reach. Explained briefly and succinctly, affiliate marketing works like this: Your sales partners link your website or your online shop via their own websites.
This will generate more traffic, which will increase your trust and attract potential new customers. Your sales partners receive commissions in return. Depending on the payment model, payments are due either when new users come to your website via the links, or when they convert there, for example when they make purchases, leave their email addresses or similar.
Imagine a classic sales representative in the field going door to door, offering your products and diligently promoting you. Affiliate marketing is quite comparable to this, except that it takes place online instead of offline.
Another difference to the offline method: In affiliate marketing, it is not the sales partner who closes the deal with the customer, but you yourself. This is because the partner only forwards interested parties to your website, everything else is not handled by him, but takes place directly between you and your customer.
So basically there are three parties involved in affiliate marketing: Advertisers (affiliate program operators), Affiliates (advertising partners) and Affiliate Networks. As an advertiser, you offer products or services that are to be sold by your affiliates. This is done with the help of an affiliate network, which acts as a technical interface between you and the advertising partners. The network sets guidelines, creates digital foundations and enables you to track your affiliates properly.
The measurability and tracking are extremely handy. They allow you to track exactly how successful your affiliates are. You can check every click and every conversion and track them back to the affiliate. Therefore, you know exactly who is receiving what commissions. This form of marketing and sales is a very fair method for all parties involved.
The payment is success-based and as an advertiser you can measure the success of your affiliates at any time. Would you like a simplified example? A user is on your affiliate's website. This page takes him to your online shop. There he makes a purchase. Your affiliate receives his commission and all parties profit from it.
Whether affiliate marketing is worthwhile for you and your business depends on several factors. Ask yourself the following questions to check the potential:
If you can define clear, measurable goals and have a large enough target audience, affiliate marketing could be very exciting for you. Look around to see if there are enough authentic distribution partners, and then get started! We wish you much success and good luck. Have a look at Greator Business around. There you will find many more tips or online seminars to help you get ahead.
